Mama's Boy
by LanieSullivan
Summary: Just a one-shot fill-in scene from "We're Ok" when Jess went to visit his mom the day after Lane's wedding.


AN: This is just a little one-shot add-on to _We're OK. _I wanted to explore a little more of Jess' relationship with his mother. It takes place the day after Lane's wedding when Jess went to visit Liz after his tux fitting. On a side note, I wanted to apologize for the extreme lack of updates on the other two stories. Work has been crazy and I've been working ungodly amounts of overtime. I should have new chapters posted of both "We're Ok," and "Emily's Revenge?" by this weekend at the latest. Thanks to everyone who'd been reading for being patient.

Jess Mariano shifted nervously as he stood on his mother's front porch, waiting for her to answer the doorbell. He wasn't sure how this visit was going to go, considering the fact that he'd never had the greatest relationship with his mom. They'd been talking more often recently though, since his life had started to calm down now that he was finally starting to make something of himself and she was settled into a somewhat stable life, compared to her past. His thoughts were interrupted by the front door swinging open and his mother embracing him in a fierce hug.

"Hey," she said as she gripped him tightly. "I'm so glad to see you. Luke told me you were gonna be in town today. Why didn't you call me and let me know?"

"Sorry," he said a little awkwardly as he extracted himself from her grasp. "I've been a little busy with the open house and all. I meant to call, but things just got so crazy that I didn't think about it. I figured I'd just see you when I got here."

"Well, come on in," she said exuberantly as she opened the door wider to let him in. When he walked in, she shut the door behind him but he didn't make any effort to move deeper into the house as he was not quite comfortable with being there. "I wanna hear all about your open house. I'm so sorry I couldn't be there, but TJ and I hadn't been back from the faire circuit that long and we were still getting things unpacked and getting my jewelry organized for the local shops to sell on consignment, plus we've been getting ready for Luke and Lorelai's wedding and you know how crazy things can get."

"I get it, Mom. It's cool."

"So, how did it go?"

"It was good. We got some decent reviews from the critics and sold some books and made some money."

"Good. I'm so proud of you. My brother called me from Philly and told me that he and April had stopped by. He said it seemed like you were doing pretty good there."

"I am." There was an awkward silence as he stood there just inside the doorway and tried to think of what to say next. He didn't really know what to say to his mother, plus as April had pointed out, he wasn't that chatty to begin with.

"Well, sit down. I wanna hear what's going on in your life. Tell me everything," Liz said exuberantly.

Jess did as his mother asked sitting nervously on her couch. "There's not much to tell, really, nothing that you don't already know about, anyway. I've got the business with my partner and I'm working sporadically on my second book."

"You've got a second book started? That's amazing!"She gushed.

"Don't get too excited, Mom. It's still a work in progress. I may not even finish it. With the day to day stuff of running the press and the shop, I don't have as much time for writing as I used to."

"Well, you should definitely finish it. If it's as good as your first one, it should be a best-seller."

"I highly doubt that," Jess said with a self-deprecating frown. "It's not like that many people even read the first one. It's not exactly _The Da Vinci Code._"

"Well, I read it and so did TJ," Liz said. "We both loved it."

"TJ read it? Did you have to sound out the big words for him?"Jess said sarcastically as he thought of his oafish step-father.

"Jess, stop," she said. "TJ's a smart guy. He may not have your brains, but he _can_ read, you know."

"Amazing," Jess said dryly. "Who knew he could read."

"Come on, he's a good guy, Jess. He's different than the other men in my life have been."

"Sure, whatever you say, Mom," he replied still not convinced that his mother's fourth husband wouldn't turn out to be just as unreliable as any of the others, including his own father. His mother had proven many times over the years that she was a loser-magnet.

"If you hate TJ so much, why did you agree to give me away on my wedding day?"

"Because Luke wanted me to, and I owe him for everything he did for me," Jess replied getting irritated with his mother. "And because I wanted to see you happy for once in your life."

"I _am _happy, Kid. TJ makes me happy. We're in a good place, TJ and me. We've got the faire and my jewelry business and this house and this town. Things are good," she said trying to convince herself as much as Jess. She still hadn't told TJ yet that he was gonna be a dad. She wasn't sure how he'd take the news, plus she wasn't sure how she even felt about it herself.

"Are you ok, Mom?" Jess asked as he noticed the change in his mother's usually bubbly demeanor.

"Yeah, I'm good," she said her face brightening again. "But enough about me and TJ, I wanna hear what's going in on in your love life."

"Nothing," he said evasively as his thoughts drifted to Rory and the kiss they'd shared in Philly as well as the evening he'd spend with her last night when he'd unwittingly crashed her best friend's wedding. They'd danced and talked and laughed. Christopher's drunken speech had gotten them talking about their respective fathers. He'd given her all the details of his visit to California to try to get to know his wayward father and she'd filled him in on the tentative relationship she had going on with her own father. He'd listened attentively while she'd told him all about her recent encounters with her dad as he watched her tear up over his idiotic behavior at the wedding. As he listened to her and saw the pain etched on her face, he wished that he'd been the one to deck him instead of Jackson.

"So, no girl in your life," Liz prodded breaking Jess out of his reverie.

"Not so you'd notice," he groused thinking of the chaste kiss on the cheek Rory had bestowed on him when he'd walked her home last night.

"What about Rory? My big brother told me that she made an appearance at your open house too."

"Yeah, she did," he replied noncommittally.

"And? How did that go? Any of the old sparks still there? Lorelai told me you two used to date."

"That was in high school" he said trying to brush off his feelings for the younger Gilmore girl as he reflected on his uncle's advice to give her some time to heal after her painful break-up with the stuck-up snob she'd been involved with.

"Come on, Jess. Can't you indulge your mother a little? I don't get to see you that much and you hardly tell me any of the details of your life. Was it weird seeing her again?"

"Yeah, of course it was weird," he said hotly as he stood up abruptly and finally let his feelings out."It was awkward and uncomfortable, especially after we kissed and then she tried to act like it didn't matter!"

"You kissed?"

"Yeah, we kissed and then she apologized and acted like it was all a big mistake and told me that she was still in love with that snotty bastard who broke her heart! I thought when I saw her walk in there alone, that maybe there was a chance that she still had some kind of feelings for me. That I actually had a shot at fixing what I messed up with her three years ago when I bailed on her, but it turns out she was just using me to try to forget about her break-up!"

"Come on, Jess. I've met Rory. I don't think she'd the kind of girl who would use you just to get over her break-up. If she kissed you, there must be some kind of lingering feelings still there."

"Well, it doesn't matter what her feelings are for me. Whatever she feels for me isn't enough for her to want to be with me. She made that very clear when she left Philly. Then Luke started lecturing me last night about how I needed to give her time to heal, but then at Lane's wedding reception we were talking and laughing like we used to so I thought that maybe I had a chance after all, but when I walked her home it was all different. She kissed me on the cheek and then walked away as if we'd never meant anything to each other!"

"Did you ever stop to think that your uncle's right and she just needs time to heal? He is a pretty smart guy when it comes to these things."

"Except when it comes to fixing his own relationships," Jess countered. "He's really good at butting into other people's lives, but not so good at taking care of his own."

"I think he's learning. He's getting things worked out with Lorelai and they're happy together. I think they're gonna make it. At least I hope so for the sake of those babies. I still sometimes can't believe that he's finally settling down, but I think this is what he was meant for. I mean, he's always been good at caring for everyone around him. I think it's good that he's got his own family to take care of now."

"Yeah, maybe," Jess said thoughtfully. He just hoped his uncle had really taken him seriously about everything he'd said to him on the phone. He thought that he and Lorelai seemed pretty happy now, but he knew all too well that just because people seemed happy on the surface, that didn't guarantee that there wasn't something ugly brewing just underneath it.

"No maybe about it. Look at how he's embrace fatherhood with April. I think he's gonna be an amazing dad to the twins and he loved Lorelai so much that whatever may happen, he bend over backwards to make it work."

"I hope you're right, Mom," he said as he thought about the whole situation. "Listen, I should get going back to Philly. I really just wanted to catch up a little."

"Ok," she said a little disappointed that she wasn't going to be able to spend more time with her son. She rose to give him one more hug and said,"About the Rory thing, just give her some time, like Luke suggested. Maybe that's all she needs."

"Ok, I'll try" he said. He released his mother and walked to the door, then turned and added, "Thanks for listening," before walking out the door.

"Anytime, Kid," Liz said to his retreating back tears filling her eyes. She laid her hand gently over her stomach thinking about how much she'd failed her son and how she was sure she was destined to let history repeat itself with this new baby. Sure, Jess was successful now, but he wouldn't have been if it hadn't been for her sending him to Luke. She flopped down onto the couch and let the tears fall as her fears of being a bad mother overwhelmed her.


End file.
